Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Plays, concerts, shows, and other events that I’ve been to in the flesh. Or have had an out-of-body experience about. Also, other items and events that inspire me, and are no less than a “show,” be it in my mind’s eye or in my backyard.
We’re not done with Shakespeare for the year just yet…
Last Saturday we attended a terrific production of Much Ado About Nothing put on by the University of Michigan’s Dept. of Theatre at the Power Center.
Want proof? Click here!
Rick Snyder, Michigan’s New Governor-Elect (who takes office next month) on the campus of Wayne State University earlier today. For an accountant by profession, his jokes were not too bad. It is to be seen what new policy measures he takes that might be just as good, or hopefully even better
Sorry, the picture’s blurred– thanks to my not-so-cool cellphone camera. Still, it’s proof that I was there! Oh, and it pays to be a little late sometimes– I was ushered in all the way to the front of the auditorium just like that!
My noon-hour expeditions/adventures on the campus of WSU continue unabated by the weather outside. Wrapped up in scraf, hat and gloves (no they didn’t all match!), I had stepped outside my warm office building even as fat flurrying flakes fell all around me. Heading north on campus, I approached the somewhat non-descript building called the General Lectures Building adjacent to the Alex Manoogian Ethnic Heritage Center, a quick ten-minute walk from my office. Manoogian Hall, as it is commonly known, houses a number of Departments, many of them in the languages (modern and ancient) and social-sciences. On its many floors, there are a number of study-rooms that are themed in decor and style for a certain country. So, there’s the Polish Room, the Greek Room, the Chinese Room, and so on. Anyway, more on these lovely rooms in Manoogian Hall another time…
Today, I discovered that the General Lectures Building, right next door to Manoogian Hall also had one such study-room called the Italian Heritage Room. And what a lovely room it is!
Here’s an album of some pictures I took (again w/ my lowly but trusty cellphone).
Scattered through the room were several interesting pieces of art– ceramic and bronze sculptures, paintings and reliefs, beautiful calligraphy on the walls, and other historical info about the the once vibrant Italian Languages Department (now perhaps collapsed into the Classics Dept.). The black-and-white checquered marbled floors and the grand columns inside the room certainly gave off a certain Italian vibe, no doubt!
And to quote Dante, the great Italian poet, “He listens well who takes notes“. Which is exactly what a study-room is good for– to read and revise notes that were taken in class!
Remembering a magnificent day earlier this Fall… This beautiful building called Old Main is a block across the street from my office. I took this picture one day in mid-October on my lunch hour. Today, the skies are not quite as blue; those maple trees have lost their leaves; and the grass on the ground is a dull brown. But Old Main remains unchanged, and I daresay it will stay the same for a long time to come.
There’s something quite comforting about brick-and-mortar, like that, don’t you think?
Last Sunday evening, I was riding in the car heading westbound in town, running one last errand for the day, nay, the weekend– when we stopped at a traffic light– and I looked out the window and directly up at the telephone wires and saw the most awesome sight: a row of tiny sparrow-like blackbirds perched close together. They were tightly packed together like a row of men’s black dress shoes on a store-shelf.
Made me also think of Leonard Cohen’s famous ballad, Like A Bird On A Wire. Here it is!
But this morning, I stand in awe at the stark contrast in the color of the skies as I look outside my window. Three days ago, the skies were a bright blue even as the evening sun was fast going down in the west. This morning, however, the skies are a dense gray but with shock of snow flurries coming down in a hurry. Each so different, and yet each so very beautiful. Like birds on a wire! And a show like none other– one that must go on!
John Steinbeck’s Nobel-prize winning novel, Of Mice And Men presented by the Theatre Department at Wayne State University. A brilliant production!
Late in coming, but a post for posterity on the occasion of Thanksgiving 2010. This was indeed a year to give thanks for all the many bounties and blessings received. Including a feast on our table.
May it be that we find reason to give thanks each day of the year– not just on this one day set aside for this action.
Pictures of our table, for your viewing pleasure:
